10 Doctor Who Secrets Everyone Knows But You
Doctor Who almost did what to Amy Pond?!
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00:00Whovians are among the most knowledgeable and passionate fans in the world, but there
00:04are some surprises that even they might be shocked by.
00:08The world of Doctor Who is far broader than what you see on TV.
00:11Like any drama, some of the juiciest stuff takes place behind the cameras, and it's
00:16those secrets that will make you view the show in a very different light.
00:20So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhoCulture, here with 10 Doctor Who Secrets Everyone Knows
00:25But You.
00:2610.
00:27Doctor Who Twin Pilots Doctor Who kicked off on the 23rd of November
00:311963 with the show's first episode, An Unearthly Child.
00:35In this adventure, we meet the Doctor, played by William Hartnell, for the first time.
00:39He's part of the TARDIS in a scrapyard in England, kept company by his granddaughter
00:43Susan.
00:44Don't ask why the Doctor has a grandchild, it's far too complex to get into that right
00:47now, alright?
00:48As pilot episodes go, An Unearthly Child did the job just fine.
00:51It introduced the characters, the premise, and the rules of the universe perfectly well.
00:55The first version of An Unearthly Child was deemed not good enough by the show's creator
01:00Sidney Newman.
01:01He didn't like the way the Doctor was dressed, or how mean he was to his granddaughter, and
01:05as a result, huge chunks of it were re-filmed and a second version was put together, with
01:10the first version not being publicly released until 1991.
01:14It does feel rather fitting, though, that a show all about regeneration actually went
01:19through a few different incarnations itself before broadcast.
01:229.
01:23The Plot Whisperer
01:24The series 3 finale, Last of the Time Lords, features a bunch of flashback shots, which
01:29take us back to the closing moment of the previous episode, The Sound of Drums.
01:33In these shots, we see the Doctor whisper something in Martha's ear, but we don't
01:36actually hear it for ourselves.
01:38In the end, we learn that he says, use the countdown, an instruction for Martha to turn
01:42the Master's own plan against him.
01:44In reality, though, David Tennant didn't say that at all.
01:47What he actually did was whisper the entire plot of Last of the Time Lords into Freema
01:52Adjiman's ear so that the director, who left the camera running while Tennant spoke,
01:56had a lot of footage in the can, allowing him to pick and choose which shots he wanted
02:01for the flashbacks.
02:02You'd imagine that a cheeky chappy like Tennant would whisper something mischievous
02:05into his co-star's ear, which is exactly what Alex Kingston did to him while shooting
02:10the library two-parter in series 4, where she whispered Shaniqua into his ear, but now
02:15you know that he actually played it dead straight.
02:188.
02:19Battling the Budget
02:21It's no secret that Doctor Who's budgets haven't always been on par with its sci-fi
02:26peers, but you might be surprised to learn just how little money the show had in those
02:30early days.
02:31Various sources place the budget for its first season at around £2,000 an episode.
02:36An Unearthly Child, the show's debut serial, had four episodes, so that's less than £10,000
02:42for the entire story.
02:44According to the Bank of England's inflation calculator, that £2,000 is only worth £32,000
02:49today.
02:50In comparison, 1966's Star Trek The Original Series reportedly commanded a budget closer
02:56to $190,000 per episode, or $1.7 million today.
03:02With so few resources at its disposal, it's actually amazing that Doctor Who became as
03:06successful as it did.
03:07Thankfully, with reports that the upcoming series 14 could reach a budget of £10 million
03:12per episode, which is on par with Game of Thrones, Doctor Who's financial woes are
03:16firmly a thing of the past.
03:197.
03:20Legends of the TARDIS The Doctor's trusty time machine, and occasional
03:23wife, is a big blue box that is, altogether now, bigger on the inside.
03:28It's been there since the very start of the show, and its exterior appearance hasn't
03:33changed all that much over the years.
03:34On the inside, though, it's been completely redecorated about a dozen times by now.
03:39But what are the round things?
03:41No idea.
03:42The story goes that the TARDIS was designed to look like a British phone box for that
03:45most reliable of reasons.
03:48Budget constraints.
03:49While some sources claim that the TARDIS was created specifically for Doctor Who, conflicting
03:53reports indicate that it was actually nicked from another BBC show.
03:57Zed Kars and Dixon of Doc Green are the prime suspects, with the latter even being cited
04:01by Stephen Moffat.
04:03The original TARDIS prop remained in use for 13 years, until it was literally falling apart.
04:09According to Elizabeth Sladen herself, it once collapsed right on top of her.
04:13And speaking of that wonderful lady…
04:156.
04:16Original Sarah Jane Smith
04:18Now this particular story is one that hardcore Whovians will definitely be familiar with,
04:23but more casual fans might not know that we came startlingly close to never having Elizabeth
04:29Sladen as legendary companion Sarah Jane Smith.
04:32Sladen debuted in the role in 1973, but Sarah Jane almost looked very different to how we
04:38know her today.
04:39The part was originally given to actress April Walker, best known for her appearances in
04:44classic British comedies such as The Two Ronnies and Fawlty Towers.
04:47The producers of Doctor Who thought that third Doctor John Pertwee wouldn't mind Walker's
04:52casting, as the two had previously worked together.
04:54How wrong they were.
04:56During rehearsals, it became clear that the chemistry just wasn't there, with Pertwee
05:00reportedly complaining about Walker being taller than he was.
05:04I mean, insecure much?
05:06And so that was the end of that, and Sladen was brought in as Walker's replacement.
05:11It is hard to imagine anyone else playing the role of Sarah Jane, but one has to feel
05:15sorry for Walker, who just missed out on the role of a lifetime.
05:195.
05:20Doctor Jackson
05:21Now speculation always runs wild whenever it's announced that a new actor will be
05:26playing the Doctor.
05:27But has anyone ever had the King of Pop on their Doctor Who wishlist?
05:30Well, that nearly happened, with Paramount Pictures very keen on having Michael Jackson
05:35play the main role in a big screen adaptation of Doctor Who in the late 1980s.
05:40They were apparently impressed with the success of his film Moonwalker, and wanted to take
05:44the title to its literal extreme.
05:46Jackson's casting would have been monumental in numerous ways.
05:50He would have been the first non-white and non-British person to portray the character.
05:55He also would have created the weirdest version of the Doctor ever because, well, he's Michael
05:59freakin' Jackson.
06:01While this casting, nor the movie itself, never happened, it's incredible to think
06:05what might have been, had Paramount been insane enough to go through with it.
06:09What's that?
06:10Who would have been the second choice actor if Jackson said no?
06:12Who was it?
06:13Bill Cosby?
06:14Oh boy.
06:154.
06:16An English Pond
06:17Amy Pond's Scottishness is one of the most integral parts of her character.
06:21It's not just impossible to imagine her without it, but the show even makes a point
06:25of calling her the Scottish girl in the English village, pointing out that she's something
06:29of an outsider, just like the Doctor.
06:31So it might surprise you to learn that not only was the English in Steven Moffat's original
06:36plan for Series 5, but her accent wasn't even decided until after Karen Gillan was
06:42cast.
06:43In an interview in 2010, Karen Gillan said,
06:45I auditioned using an English accent and my own.
06:48When I was recalled, I did my own accent, and we were still in talks about the accent
06:52when I got the role.
06:53I'm really happy it worked out that way.
06:55So are we, Karen.
06:56So are we.
06:57During the 11th Hour's commentary track, it's mentioned that the creatives went back
07:00and forth before ultimately deciding to make her Scottish.
07:04Going back, it seems like the most obvious decision in the world, so it's insane to
07:07think that we almost ended up with a much different version of the character.
07:113.
07:12Hans Zimmer in Distress
07:14When Doctor Who was facing cancellation in the mid-1980s, some of its staff members decided
07:19that the only way to save it was to record and release a charity single.
07:22Sure.
07:23That makes sense.
07:24Doctor in Distress was unleashed into the world in 1985.
07:28It featured vocals from various actors from the show, including Colin Baker, as well as
07:32members of bands such as the Moody Blues and Ultra Vox.
07:35Now most fans will know about the song by now, but did you know that Hans Zimmer, yes,
07:40THE Hans Zimmer, the Oscar-winning composer of The Lion King, Pirates of the Caribbean,
07:45Inception, and The Dark Knight, played the music for the track?
07:48Though hardly his finest work, the fact that Hans bloody Zimmer was involved in the song
07:53makes it ten times more noteworthy than it has any right to be.
07:56Doctor Who has so many before-they-were-famous actor appearances, but this cameo from one
08:01of the greatest composers in film history is right at the top of the pile.
08:062.
08:07Patrick Troughton Death Rumours Patrick Troughton was given the unenviable
08:11task of replacing William Hartnell in 1966.
08:14Thanks to his success, Doctor Who has survived for decades through its ability to change
08:19its lead actor.
08:20But that's enough praising the man.
08:22Let's talk about some dodgy rumours surrounding his death.
08:25Troughton passed away on the 28th March 1987 while attending a convention in the United
08:30States.
08:31He'd been warned by his doctors, the medical kind, not the time travel kind, not to leave
08:34the UK because of his weak heart.
08:37But he ignored this advice.
08:38Shortly after ordering breakfast at his hotel, Troughton suffered a heart attack and died
08:42at the far too young age of 67.
08:45While his death was a tragic loss, that hasn't stopped the Who community from speculating
08:50on the real cause of his passing.
08:52A rumour has done the rounds that Troughton's fatal cardiac arrest was caused by him having
08:57slept with a fan at the convention.
09:00Despite it never having been proven, this theory has persisted for many years, and will
09:05probably persist for many more.
09:07But remember this is pure conjecture.
09:09We really don't want to get sued, and also, it's not kind to speak ill of the dead.
09:131.
09:14The Weeping Angels Are Real Of all the monsters not to be pursued by in
09:18real life, the Weeping Angels probably rank close to the top.
09:22Daleks?
09:23Easy, just walk around the back of them and hide from their plunger.
09:26But those evil statues aren't just creepy, they're also relentless, meaning that you'd
09:31never get a moment's peace.
09:32They also send you back in time rather than killing you outright, making your death a
09:36slow and lonely one.
09:37Thank goodness they're fictional then, right?
09:40Right?
09:41Well, maybe not.
09:42According to the Angel's creator Stephen Moffat, the idea of these creatures came from
09:47a real life experience that he had while walking past a graveyard.
09:51He spotted a statue inside the cemetery, an angel with its hands over its eyes.
09:56A few years later, he returned to the graveyard to find that everything was as he left it,
10:00except the angel was gone.
10:02Oh dear.
10:03So this story really speaks more to the creativity of Moffat than anything else.
10:07To get from here to one of the most iconic villains in Doctor Who is nothing short of
10:11genius.
10:12And that concludes our list.
10:14If you think we missed something, then do let us know in the comments below.
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10:26across various social medias just by searching Ellie Littlechild, search for Sean Ferrick
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10:33I've been Ellie with WhoCulture, and in the words of River Song herself, goodbye sweeties.